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The phrase n(o) da is a grammatical construction that has a lot of functions, including indicating some sort of explanation on the part of the speaker. It's usually hard (and often unneccesary) to capture it in translation.

For example, If person A asks person B, Where were you?, person B might respond, boku, suupaa ni itte kita n da. means something like Well, you see, I went to the store.

But apparently, in the case of Papa Bakabon, the no da doesn't really mean anything, it's just that his overuse of the phrase serves as a signature for his character. But since no da usually gets lost in translation, it's hard to retain that element of his character in an English translation without coming up with something to replace it, I think.

How about a non-questioning question at the end of the sentence, like:

I went to the store, didn't I?
It's a widget, isn't it?

Or perhaps a bit more emphasis on the fact as if reinforcing an explanation:

I went to the store, I did.
It's a widget, it is.

Maxim wrote

How about a non-questioning question at the end of the sentence, like:

I went to the store, didn't I?
It's a widget, isn't it?

Or perhaps a bit more emphasis on the fact as if reinforcing an explanation:

I went to the store, I did.
It's a widget, it is.

I think that might actually be a really good way of translating the whole `no da` thing

That actually reminds me of the German translation of the US version of 星銃士ビスマルク (Seijūshi Bisumaruku) aka Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, where Fireball and Colt did that all the time. :-)

Hey guys, how is this coming along? Any updates?

I hope that any coder present at this moment is busy working on the Coding Competition :)

Good thing I'm not a coder then :P
Our translator seems to have disappeared for the time being. I'll send a PM his way.

Maxim wrote

かえれ = "get out/go home"
Saying something twice = emphasis

I don't know Japanese either, but don't they use the same issue of verb repetition to mean, hmm, how to say this, not emphasis but more of a kind sort-of imperative. So it would be like 'just get out of here you, get, skat!' I would assume it has a number of similarities to Chinese since they pretty much stole everything from China anyway, but I'm not claiming to know anything about the language because I don't, just Chinese.

I havent been able to work on this for a while, but I have just started it up again recently, I was very busy moving over the xmas break and new years, also busy getting back into school and stuff. I plan to devote a lot of time to this in the upcoming weeks so I think I will actually have it finished reasonably soon

Sorry to keep you all waiting so long

geishaboy wrote

I havent been able to work on this for a while, but I have just started it up again recently, I was very busy moving over the xmas break and new years, also busy getting back into school and stuff. I plan to devote a lot of time to this in the upcoming weeks so I think I will actually have it finished reasonably soon

Sorry to keep you all waiting so long

Hey sorry to bump this, but are you guys still working on this? I ask because I've already done a bit of work (inserting font, expanding menus, dumping script) and Filler is taking a look at it, but if you guys are right in the middle of it I'll just tell him to hold off on doing anything with the script. I don't want to waste any more time on the project if someone has it nearly finished already.

I'm still a little curious about the use of 'no da'. Would it be something akin to the Brits saying "you know what I mean?" at the end of every sentence, or teens overuse of the work 'like' (you know like... and then she was like.. etc)?

I think I said this in a previous post, but no da is usually hard to translate. In this case, though, no da is Bakabon's signature expression, so it would good to represent it in English somehow.

After living in Japan here for a while now, I think I've gotten a pretty good sense of how no da is used.

For example, if a person says sou na n(o) da, they're basically saying "This is how it is", or "It's like this".

People also use it (or its variants) when responding to something they find surprising. For example:

sou na n(o) da!

...means something like, "So that's what it is!", or ""So that's how it is!". It's sort of like saying, "Oh really?"

Bakabon is basically "telling people like it is". Plus, putting no da at the end of (almost?) every phrase is wierd, so it should probably sound wierd in English, too.

Maybe a good choice would be, "what it is". It carries the same meaning as no da, and it sounds wierd. What do you think?

perhaps "That's that then!" ? =P

And about "Oh really?!" I think it doesn't have the same meaning as the other sentences, especially after ORLY?! meme began to spread on the internet (with its owls hehe).

That means "I already knew all that, stupid", or something pejorative.

Not sure if better to start a new topic or use an old one,
but I saw streamer Chuboh (who often plays random weird and usually bad games from ROM sets for old computers) play through this full game last week.
Haven't seen him quite enough to know, was he able to read the text (what I could understand of Japanese did seem to check out)? Or I wonder if someone has translated it through an FAQ.
Could be interesting if he has an archive, so we have a full English video of this game.

Have to laugh when he got to the final puzzle and... do we have spoiler tags here? I have to edit it after it seems we don't.

Author	Message
Paul Jensen Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 254 Location: California, USA; Hiroshima, Japan	Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:00 am
	The phrase n(o) da is a grammatical construction that has a lot of functions, including indicating some sort of explanation on the part of the speaker. It's usually hard (and often unneccesary) to capture it in translation. For example, If person A asks person B, Where were you?, person B might respond, boku, suupaa ni itte kita n da. means something like Well, you see, I went to the store. But apparently, in the case of Papa Bakabon, the no da doesn't really mean anything, it's just that his overuse of the phrase serves as a signature for his character. But since no da usually gets lost in translation, it's hard to retain that element of his character in an English translation without coming up with something to replace it, I think.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14734 Location: London	Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:37 am
	How about a non-questioning question at the end of the sentence, like: I went to the store, didn't I? It's a widget, isn't it? Or perhaps a bit more emphasis on the fact as if reinforcing an explanation: I went to the store, I did. It's a widget, it is.

geishaboy Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Osaka, Japan	Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:15 pm
	Maxim wrote How about a non-questioning question at the end of the sentence, like: I went to the store, didn't I? It's a widget, isn't it? Or perhaps a bit more emphasis on the fact as if reinforcing an explanation: I went to the store, I did. It's a widget, it is. I think that might actually be a really good way of translating the whole `no da` thing

Christuserloeser Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 295 Location: Pangea	OT comment ahead Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:42 pm
	That actually reminds me of the German translation of the US version of 星銃士ビスマルク (Seijūshi Bisumaruku) aka Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, where Fireball and Colt did that all the time. :-)

grolt Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Canada	Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:20 pm
grolt Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Canada	Hey guys, how is this coming along? Any updates?

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8648 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:02 pm
	I hope that any coder present at this moment is busy working on the Coding Competition :)

DMEnduro Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 420 Location: Australia	Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:01 am
	Good thing I'm not a coder then :P Our translator seems to have disappeared for the time being. I'll send a PM his way.

Stan Joined: 20 Dec 2004 Posts: 187	Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:21 pm
Stan Joined: 20 Dec 2004 Posts: 187	Maxim wrote かえれ = "get out/go home" Saying something twice = emphasis I don't know Japanese either, but don't they use the same issue of verb repetition to mean, hmm, how to say this, not emphasis but more of a kind sort-of imperative. So it would be like 'just get out of here you, get, skat!' I would assume it has a number of similarities to Chinese since they pretty much stole everything from China anyway, but I'm not claiming to know anything about the language because I don't, just Chinese.

geishaboy Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Osaka, Japan	Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 7:46 am
	I havent been able to work on this for a while, but I have just started it up again recently, I was very busy moving over the xmas break and new years, also busy getting back into school and stuff. I plan to devote a lot of time to this in the upcoming weeks so I think I will actually have it finished reasonably soon Sorry to keep you all waiting so long

kingofcrusher Joined: 15 Aug 2009 Posts: 74 Location: Portland, Oregon	Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:47 am
	geishaboy wrote I havent been able to work on this for a while, but I have just started it up again recently, I was very busy moving over the xmas break and new years, also busy getting back into school and stuff. I plan to devote a lot of time to this in the upcoming weeks so I think I will actually have it finished reasonably soon Sorry to keep you all waiting so long Hey sorry to bump this, but are you guys still working on this? I ask because I've already done a bit of work (inserting font, expanding menus, dumping script) and Filler is taking a look at it, but if you guys are right in the middle of it I'll just tell him to hold off on doing anything with the script. I don't want to waste any more time on the project if someone has it nearly finished already.

thatawesomeguy Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 729 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:58 am
	I'm still a little curious about the use of 'no da'. Would it be something akin to the Brits saying "you know what I mean?" at the end of every sentence, or teens overuse of the work 'like' (you know like... and then she was like.. etc)?

Paul Jensen Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 254 Location: California, USA; Hiroshima, Japan	"no da" Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:09 pm
	I think I said this in a previous post, but no da is usually hard to translate. In this case, though, no da is Bakabon's signature expression, so it would good to represent it in English somehow. After living in Japan here for a while now, I think I've gotten a pretty good sense of how no da is used. For example, if a person says sou na n(o) da, they're basically saying "This is how it is", or "It's like this". People also use it (or its variants) when responding to something they find surprising. For example: sou na n(o) da! ...means something like, "So that's what it is!", or ""So that's how it is!". It's sort of like saying, "Oh really?" Bakabon is basically "telling people like it is". Plus, putting no da at the end of (almost?) every phrase is wierd, so it should probably sound wierd in English, too. Maybe a good choice would be, "what it is". It carries the same meaning as no da, and it sounds wierd. What do you think?

Niloct Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 607 Location: São Paulo - Brazil	Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:32 am
	perhaps "That's that then!" ? =P And about "Oh really?!" I think it doesn't have the same meaning as the other sentences, especially after ORLY?! meme began to spread on the internet (with its owls hehe). That means "I already knew all that, stupid", or something pejorative.

KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 510	Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:11 pm
KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 510	Not sure if better to start a new topic or use an old one, but I saw streamer Chuboh (who often plays random weird and usually bad games from ROM sets for old computers) play through this full game last week. Haven't seen him quite enough to know, was he able to read the text (what I could understand of Japanese did seem to check out)? Or I wonder if someone has translated it through an FAQ. Could be interesting if he has an archive, so we have a full English video of this game. Have to laugh when he got to the final puzzle and... do we have spoiler tags here? I have to edit it after it seems we don't.

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